Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola reiterated on Friday that he would speak out whenever "innocent people are killed" in the world, in response to criticism from representatives of Manchester's Jewish community.

"Why can't I express what I feel? Just because I'm a coach? I don't agree, but I respect all opinions," the Spaniard responded at a press conference.

"What I said, in essence, was: how many conflicts are there in the world? Many. I condemn them all. Innocent people are being killed, I condemn all of that. I didn't say that one country was more important than another, no. If you don't understand my message, that's fine," he insisted.

On Tuesday, the Catalan had expressed his anger at the "thousands of innocent people" killed by the war, citing "the genocide in Palestine, what happened in Ukraine, what happened in Russia, what happened all over the world, in Sudan, everywhere."

He stressed that his position was not a political statement or taking sides, but that it was about defending human life wherever civilians are suffering.

Last week, he also made a private trip to his native region, Barcelona, to give a speech in support of Palestinian children.

These various public statements, rare in the world of football, have earned him much praise but also criticism, notably from the Representative Council of Jews in Greater Manchester.

"Pep Guardiola is a football coach. Even if his humanitarian reflections come from a good intention, he should focus on football," the institution wrote on Wednesday on X, saying it feared such remarks could fuel anti-Semitic acts.

The Representative Council also criticized him for a lack of public support after the October 2025 terrorist attack on the Heaton Park synagogue in Manchester, in which two worshippers lost their lives.